Wheels of Steal

Blog no. 10 of 17 (or thereabouts)

They say a bad workman blames his tools.  This tool blames her bike.  But truth be told, I'm clinging to the hope that I'm not a bad cyclist ... because something's hit me - the realisation that I simply don't like my bike.  Not quite a road to Damascus moment; I was, in fact, on my way to Tooting.  But writing it down crystallises the thought.  I've said it now ... I reeeeally don't like my crappy old (but new to me) bike.  It's got lots of old-fashioned metal bits where swanky modern bikes would be fashioned from fancy polymery carbony lightweight ergonomic bits.  It's a horrible thing.  Bugger.

Some years ago, I had my favourite ever bike stolen, and frankly, it's irreplaceable.  Partly because they don't make them anymore, and partly because the equivalent in today's readies is beyond the reach of my pocket money.  I've dallied halfheartedly with a succession of lame replacements from the police auction and ebay.  But when they're hewn by villains from whichever railings I've attached them to, I never feel the stomach-dropping horror of losing my original Peugeot.  

Hang on a minute, that gives me an idea ... I can't possibly join in UniCycle50 (http://www.unicycle50.com/) if my bike's been ... no, no ... must keep trying.  I may be in pork rather than peak condition, but I'm damn well going to try and get from Milton Keynes to London next week.  Our intrepid leader Steven the UniCyclist is heading our way in a few hours time as he starts out from Peel on the Isle of Man for his big adventure tomorrow.  It's not too late to sign up for the communal ride next week:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/event.php?eid=174564295907447 
it's only 55-miles, a mere drop in the ocean of the 20,000+ miles he's planning overall.

Well, I say 20,000+ miles ... it turns out from a radio interview Steven did with his local station yesterday, he actually quite fancies completing 25,000 miles as that's the circumference of the Earth.  How cool is that?  Fair gave me goosebumps. 

But if he tries putting 25% on our ride next Wednesday, you can be sure it won't be me getting bumps ...